I'm also not sure I agree with all the descriptions.
So, let me clarify.
Feast can also be used with cost-reducers sometimes. But the big thing there is the openings - the chance that you get a 5 off feast is very marginally better than off a silver; the chance of getting two is slightly better than that. And you almost never want to use it to gain duchies - it's a big trap of the card actually - except in duke games, where it's good for dukes as well.
I never really experienced Feast with cost reducers. If you have the cost reducers, Feast costs also less when you buy it, so I can't see the big value. I think that's a big edge case that doesn't need to be mentioned. The rest seems pretty similar to that what I said (or what I intended to say). Feast is great if you want a $5 and don't necessarily want the Silver. And I did say that the Duchy gain is good in Duke games, not sure what you disagree with me. It can also be good in Ill-Gotten-Gains rushes for example.
Sure, it's a bit of an edge case, probably not worth mentioning. The bigger thing is that you are mentioning its use to grab duchies, especially in duke games, but really it's ONLY good to do that in duke games - the way you say it implies its okay in other games, too, just not as good. And I don't find that it is, in fact, very good in IGG 'rushes'.
Nomad camp has some weird other uses, though to be fair they're quite obscure.
What do you mean here?
I mean really obscure things, which being really obscure, I probably should not have mentioned in the first place. This one isn't a complaint.
Noble Brigand you're selling all wrong though. It absolutely devours all but the very very strongest big money strtegies alive. I mean, the only BM that curvives it is like wharf, mirrors, cursers (though that's really a different story), and like 1 or 2 others. Okay, that doesn't make it a world-beater, but... It's probably also worth a mention that the on-buy attack gets through reactions and lighthouses.
I know you like Noble Brigand a lot and you're pretty good in those Big Money games and I'm not, but my experience is that Noble Brigand+BM is good but not top-level. I just did a quick look and most of the 40+ level players rated it even lower. Not saying that they are right, but I think you're overvaluing a little bit.
I actually don't like it particularly; I think it is strong. Well, we can disagree here. But I am not saying that NB/BM is top level. I am saying that NB is top level against BM, and it absolutely is. Of course, if your opponent doesn't ever have much silver or gold in his deck, it's terrible, but it can actually have pretty decent impact in games it's never bought in, because it discourages eats big money SO MUCH. Eh, I guess my disagreement here is more with how its strength is perceived more than what you say, similar to the ironworks below.
Ironworks, I have issues with the downplaying-its-goodness commentary, but that is in line with the rank it got, so that's not a huge deal. But you don't really want to ironworks ironworks very often, except in rushes (silk road, gardens, etc.). Also, it's really not the extra card that helps very much there, I don't think.
Not sure what you mean with "downplaying-its-goodness". I agree, you don't want to Ironworks an Ironworks that often, I just want to show that you gain 2 cards from 2 Ironworks in a turn without having a village, I see now that this was misleading.
Trader for big money is... okay, but not really all that hot.
I agree, that it's not the best BM enabler, but in 3-4 player games where you can ignore cursers more easily, it's not that bad because you can easily get 2-3 Silvers a turn and a Big Money strategy is viable. And I think with Mountebank getting 2-3 Traders early on and go BM will win easily.
Yeah, but this is a different point entirely. As a defense, right on, but my point is that the active trader strategy buying it just to trash and turn stuff into silver, isn't so strong as you're selling - it's very good I presume with feodum, and with gardens and duke, but other than this, not so much - essentially, not for big money by itself. As a defense is a different story though.
Quarry/Ambassador is that high, huh? This isn't a gripe, I just find that interesting.
You basically open Gold/Ambassador because when you open Ambassador you're likely building an engine, right?
Yeah, but opportunity cost means you're missing out on a second ambassador. It's not that quarry doesn't go well, just specifically as an opener. I mean, I'm not sure how often I would want to open amb/gold. But okay. Interesting.
Your blurb on Feodum implies that gardens and SR are big in rushes, and while you can rush them, their main uses are definitively elsewhere.
I'm still not sure how Feodum compares with Gardens and Silk Road, but it's pretty good with the right support, similarly as Gardens and Silk Road are good with the right support. So I disagree with you that it is too high. I think it's even too low, maybe not much, but a little bit. And I wasn't saying that Gardens and Silk Roads are mainly rushes, of course they can also be useful in slogs and other scenarios, but when going for them is viable (no matter if slog or rush or whatever) the game ends on 3-piles in most of the cases, right? What I was saying that this is harder to achieve with Feodum. But it plays differently, as you can empty the Feoda with a high Silver density from let's say Jack of All Trades and still can buy Provinces later on while you keep getting Silvers, it's like a Rush/Slog/Big Money mix where you first rush the Feoda, then go for Big Money and Provinces.
But only the slog really NEEDS to end the game in three piles. If you can't end the game on three piles in a slog, or an engine, who cares? You aren't winning that way (well, in an engine you often are, but it's irrelevant). I think you make too big a deal of this - I doubt it matters that much. Having said that, I don't have tons of experience with dark ages and am fully ready to defer to those who do.